


From the End to the Start

by orphan_account



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood Drinking, Codependency, Culebras (From Dusk Till Dawn), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:21:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: With Seth at the brink of death, Richie has to make a life-changing choice and risk losing his brother either way.
Relationships: Richard Gecko & Seth Gecko, Richard Gecko/Seth Gecko
Kudos: 15





	From the End to the Start

“Please Seth. Stay with me.” 

Richie put pressure on the open wound. Seth’s attacker sprawled dead on the ground, his throat ripped out, a few feet away from them. It shouldn’t have gone this way. They were meeting with a man under a culebra with a few crooked car manufacturing plants. He had been four months late in tribute to the Geckos and dodged all of the attempted meetings Seth had set up with people under him and Richie. Richie was sick of the disrespect and decided to collect the tribute with Seth. The deal was going south and the man they had met with shot Seth before Richie could take the bullet for him. Richie had immediately lunged across the desk and ripped his throat out. Seth shouldn't have been hurt but this snake world was slowly becoming too much for a human to handle. 

“Come on talk to me.” Richie begged. His protectiveness of Seth overcame his culebra instincts, so the blood on his hands had no effect on his thirst. Richie knew by Seth’s shallow breaths the bullet had struck or at least grazed his lung. Tears fell from his eyes onto Seth’s blood soaked shirt. Seth wasn't going to make it out of this alive, or at least not in his human state.

“I'm gonna be okay buddy.” Seth tried to calm Richie who was shaking with each sob.

“No, you're not Seth. It hit your lung.” He still had his hands pressed into the wound. Seth was still breathing, short and choked.

“I can save you.” Richie said with a hopeful glint in his eyes. He shifted his face so his fangs were out.

“You know I don't want that.” Seth reached up with a shaking hand and brushed his thumb across Richie’s cheekbone. Richie’s fangs receded and he dropped his head in defeat.

“Please,” he begged, “I can't do it without you.” Seth just shook his head in response.

“You’re gonna be okay.” Even in his dying state he was still taking care of his baby brother. He still felt like he owed him his life, especially these last few moments.  
Seth started to cough and Richie helped him sit up a bit so he wouldn't choke. Blood came out of Seth’s mouth the moment he sat up. This wasn't good. Richie clung to Seth like a life raft in the open sea. Seth’s blood was covering Richie. There was so much of it now he isn't even sure if he has any clean skin.

“Seth, please, I need you. We don’t have much time” He pleaded, his sobs caused him to choke up on his words. Seth knew Richie loves him, and god, he loves Richie so much. Seth also knows that he doesn't want to be on this Earth forever. He knows he'll see his brother again some day.But something told him that he wasn't going to be moving on from this world tonight. He knows his brother so well, sometimes even better than himself. He knows Richie is going to do something extremely selfish in the next few moments, he held his breath and waited.

“I'm sorry” he heard Richie whisper against his inked neck. The next thing he felt was excruciating pain, not from his bullet wound,but in his neck. Richie had sunk his teeth into Seth’s skin. Ironically enough right into the scar tissue from the last time he had done this. This time it was different though. The venom glands on Richie’s neck pulsed as he released the toxin into Seth’s bloodstream. The pain spread, venom running through his veins. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he reopened them he couldn't believe what he saw. 

Ray Gecko alive. Not only was he alive but he was beating the shit out of Richie. Seth saw Richie flash between ages. One strike he was a kid, another he was a teen, right before his eyes Richie was transformed into his adult self. Even though the figure of Richie was changing, the pained look on his face was unchanged. Richie never screamed and he never fought back when Ray would beat him. He would occasionally let out small whimpers of pain. Seth couldn't bear to watch. He tried to move to help Richie but he was stuck in his place. He tried to shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch the only person he's ever had in so much pain but his eyes were glued to Richie’s huddled form. 

The scene before him flashed into something different. Something darker. Ray’s form began to shift to a slightly smaller more womanly shape. His hair grew long and his face shifted into something slimmer and younger. Ray Gecko had shifted into Santanico Pandemonium. Santanico lifted Richie, now an adult, off the ground. She whispered something unheard to Seth into Richie’s ear. Seth was still glued to his place where he sat on the ground. The edges around this venomous vision were fuzzy and Seth couldn't tell where he was. He tried to will himself to look around more and get a better view of things but he was cemented in his place.  
Richie began to walk towards him with a distant look in his eye. This wasn't his Richie. This was something sinister. Santanico followed, whispering into Richie’s ear, she pressed the carved knife into his palm. 

If Seth had control over his actions he wasn't sure if he would be locked with fear or high tailing out of there. He heard what Santanico was whispering.

“Kill him. Kill him, Richard. Kill him.” She continued to chant, voice never rising above a whisper. 

The knife opens in Richie’s hand as he kneeled down in front of Seth. A devilish smirk stretched across his lips. He lifted the knife and pressed it against Seth’s neck, slowly dragging the blade across it. 

The next thing Seth knew he was lying on the floor, covered in blood, staring up at himself. 

“What the fuck?” He mumbled. His senses heightened and his throat was burning with a thirst that felt unquenchable. Is this what hell is like? Because Seth Gecko sure as hell knew he wasn't making it into heaven. The other him helped him sit up. Before Seth’s eyes his figment self shifted back into Richie.

“Richard. What did you do?” Seth rubbed his throat, it felt like a fire was trying to claw its way out. Richie was still crying. A look of shame tainted his features.

“I’m sorry, I really am.” Richie helped Seth to his feet.

“You are so fucking selfish.” Seth growled, punctuating his sentence with a hard punch to Richie’s jaw. Seth hit him again and he fell to the ground. He kicked him twice in the ribs, then gave up. He fitfully threw his arms at his sides. He was still so fucking thirsty. He looked to where Richie was wheezing on the ground, slightly to the left was his attacker. He lunged for him lapping up the blood that was running down his broken open skin. Richie regained himself and stood up. He kept a safe distance as he watched Seth devour his first meal as a culebra. 

Seth stood up when he was finished, a ravenous look still present in his golden brown eyes. His face was stained with blood. For one of the first times in his life, Richie was scared of his brother.

“How could you do this to me?” He whispered with a slight lisp from his still present fangs. Richie stood quiet.

“I told you I didn’t want this, Richard. You knew and yet you did it anyway.” Seth moved his facial muscles around, trying to figure out how to make his fangs recede. He continued towards Richie, fangs now receded. He grabbed his collar and pulled him by it.

“Are you really that fucking selfish?” His hot breath spilled across Richie’s face, he could practically smell the fear radiating off of his little brother.Shaking him by the collar, he commanded through gritted teeth, “Answer me you shit.” 

“Yes.” Richie mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with his brother. 

“Why Richie? Why?” Seth released one of his hands from his Brother’s collar and used it to push his chin up. They met each other's eyes. Seth could see the shame burning deep in his little brother’s.

“I’m sorry Seth.” He mumbled. 

“You’re not though. Why?” His voice softened and Richie no longer flinched at his words. Seth’s other hand loosened on Richie’s collar and moved to press flat into his chest.

“This is all my fault. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” Richie blabbered tears still fresh in his now bloodshot eyes. They both understood what was right now unspoken. The same thing Richie had said to Seth in his dying moments an hour ago. Richie needed Seth just as much as Seth needed Richie.Although Seth wasn’t sure if he could handle Richie right now. He needed to get out. He needed to leave and figure this whole bloodsucker thing out. He had become one of the monsters he had been trying to rid the world of. 

“Richie, buddy, you need to listen to me right now.” Richie nodded, not wanting to upset Seth. 

“I really don’t know what to do right now. I just have to figure myself out. I gotta get out of here,” Richie nodded, he was ready to pack up and go Seth’s command. A billion different things were running through his head. He had to figure out who was going to watch over Jackknife’s and what he was going to tell everyone. He was drawn out of his own head by Seth’s words.

“I gotta go alone Richard.” Richie’s face dropped. Seth can’t go alone, they need to stick together. They promised Eddie that they would stay together. Two Geckos is better than one. 

“Seth you can’t-” he began to say.

“No, I can and I will. I’ll be back. I just gotta sort some shit with myself.” Seth pulled Richie in tight. He breathed in the scent of his brother, for what he thought was, one last time.

“Don’t you come looking for me Richie. I’ll come back.” Richie nodded. Right after he almost lost his brother he ends up losing him anyway. Ironic, you’d think they’d learn from their mistakes. Seth released him and retrieved the car keys from his pocket.

“You mind if I take it?” He asked.

“Nah it’s fine.” Richie stood still in his place while his eyes skimmed the blood soaked room.

“Hey Seth?” He stopped his brother before he left. 

“Yeah?”

“I’ll miss you.” Richie said quietly. Seth nodded and turned to walk out. Richie could have sworn he said “me too”. He waited until he heard Seth drive off to search the man for the keys to his car and drag his body out to it. He took the Camaro so he’d be able to drive in the day if he had to. 

The drive back to Jackknife Jed’s was quiet and lonely. Richie walked back through the doors of the truckstop. Scott was the first one to rush over to him.

“What happened to your car? Where’s Seth?” Scott asked, concern flooding his features.

“Don’t worry about it, just have someone get rid of that car and its contents.” Richie said pushing past Scott. He didn’t mean to be so cold, he just really wasn’t up for explaining everything, or even acknowledging the events that occurred in the last couple hours.

He took the elevator down his and Seth’s shared workspace. He made his way to his desk and ran his hand along the dark mahogany. He contemplated getting some work done but every time he picked up some paperwork to go over, Seth’s empty desk was in his peripherals. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. He placed them back on his nose and got up out of his chair. He sulked over to Seth’s desk. His hands rested on the smooth leather back of the chair. He turned it around before sitting down. He turned his head and took in a breath, inhaling the familiar scent that still clung to the material. He exhaled, shaky breath leaving his body. 

‘Seth was coming back. He’d be back.’ Richie repeated to himself over and over. 

He replayed the scene in his head. Trying to figure out if there was anything he could have done differently. Anything that would have Seth be here with him. What it all came down to was Seth being dead and Richie being alone or Seth being alive with a promise to come back. Richie decided he was okay with the way things turned out, even though it hurts.


End file.
